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First Impressions: BIT.TRIP FATE

The folks at Gaijin Games have already brought us four amazing BIT.TRIP releases that take many of the classic arcade elements from days gone by and somehow make them relevant again with their unique music/rhythm gameplay twists. We've seen classic influences ranging from the original Pong all the way up to David Crane's legendary Pitfall. Now with their newest title BIT.TRIP FATE, they've once again ventured out into a new genre, but still somehow been able to keep the magic of the past releases in the series perfectly intact.

Leaving behind the platforming of BIT.TRIP RUNNER, BIT.TRIP FATE vaults our favorite hero CommanderVideo into an all out classic arcade shoot 'em up. Not only does he have a wide range of firepower at his disposal, but his enemies are packing some pretty impressive ammunition as well. You'll have to guide CommanderVideo along a rail, taking out enemies and collecting the plus sign hearts that they drop in order to ramp up your level and make it through to the boss fight at the end.

Roller coaster ride

Since CommanderVideo is attached to the rail as he moves through each of the game's levels, you'll only be able to move him forward or backward along the rail by pressing left or right on the analog stick. Much like a bullet hell shooter, he'll move faster when he's not currently firing his weapon, but will move much more slowly and deliberately when you're holding down the fire button. This slower movement can make weaving in and out of heavy sprays of curtain fire much easier and more precise.

CommanderVideo also has plenty of firepower at his disposal. Using the Wii Remote places a targeting reticle on the screen that controls the direction CommanderVideo will fire his cannons. You can then use the Nunchuk to move him along the rail while using the Wii Remote to aim your cannon fire. Players looking for a more traditional control method can also use the Classic Controller. This allows you to move CommanderVideo along the rail using the left analog stick and fire his cannon in all directions by using the right analog stick. Both methods work equally well, so it will likely come down to personal preference as to which control method you choose.

Lasers rule!

As you move through each level, you'll face an almost endless barrage of enemies and their bullets coming at you. You'll have to carefully balance your cannon fire with those times when you'll need to lay off of the fire button in order to move along the rails more quickly to avoid the many bullets coming your way. For times when you find yourself getting a bit overwhelmed, the game will sometimes even toss you a little help in the form of a character power-up.

There are four types of power-ups in the game and the power-up icons constantly cycle through the four character types so you can generally choose which one you pick up if you time it correctly. Meat Boy will give your cannon fire a big upgrade and turns your bullets into huge beams that will take out any enemies and the firepower that gets in its path. Junior Melchkin adds four laser beams that are fairly powerful, but can be a bit difficult to hit targets with in a pinch. CommandgirlVideo basically makes your cannon fire in all directions and can be very useful for those times when the screen is blanketed with enemies. And last, but certainly not least, is Mr. Robotube. He gives your cannon a swirling type of firepower that covers a wide area and is fairly potent, something that comes in quite handy in taking out some of the stronger enemies in the game, especially if they're bunched together in close proximity to one another.

He looks pissed!

The levels are extremely long, so you'll have your hands full navigating your way through them. Even the early levels feature the trademark BIT.TRIP difficulty, so you're going to have to put some time in if you're going to beat them. If you're able to make it to the end of the level, a boss fight awaits you and this is where the challenge gets even more difficult. The bosses range from large stationary targets, to bosses that will move around the screen and must be avoided at all costs. You'll have to be quick on the rail, not to mention deadly accurate with your firepower if you're going to beat these bad boys and that's if you can find their weakness in time.

Gaijin Games have once again crafted an exotic visual and musical experience to wrap around yet another fantastic gameplay design. As solid and engaging as the platforming aspects were in RUNNER, the shooter mechanics of FATE are equally challenging and addictive. It's clear that the guys at Gaijin Games are in perfect tune with how to keep coming up with unique and interesting gameplay ideas to inject CommanderVideo into, and FATE carries on the tradition of simple, yet maddeningly enjoyable gaming experiences the BIT.TRIP series has become so famous for. If you love the BIT.TRIP series, this one should now be sitting atop your must-have list and if you're not a fan, this one might just change your mind.

It's even more amazing that there is not a single weak link in the entire chain. (Alright, I haven't played Fate yet, obviously, but come on! There's no way this one isn't going to be fantastic.) A solid run of five games (hopefully six) is more than almost any other series has to its credit.

Alright, sounds great! Tis series just keeps throwing quality releases out for us to etat up! I wonder if we'll see a BIT.TRIP Collection on a retail disc so the public that can't connect their Wii's to the internet can play this great series!

Excellent preview, Corbie. Quick and to-the-point yet still detailed enough to give a good idea of how ridiculously awesome FATE's going to be.

1 & 2. Long levels are killer (in a good and bad way) in BEAT, but I thought the length of RUNNER's levels with a few glaring exceptions (1-11, 3-9, 3-10) was balanced perfectly. Time will tell if going back to the old way will bode well for my enjoyment of FATE. Glad the meter's there again fo' sho' though; it does wonders for level pacing.

3. Well duh. Loving the soundtrack so far, but I doubt it's gonna top Mermaid from the RUNNER credits.

4. Too soon to tell if that's good or bad.

5. RUNNER is my favorite game of all time, so it would be very hard to top. Anywhere close to it would be one of my top 5 games ever, which is more than enough.

Great impressions Corbie! Now, you say the levels are as long as they were the earlier Bit.Trip games, but you commented somewhere else (don't remember where......) that "the difficulty really ramps up at level 4." The earlier Bit.Trips only had 3 levels..... how long is this game?

EDIT: Never mind, those last 2 comments weren't there yet when I started typing.

Now, I know the game isn't even out yet, but, where are they going to go after this? They only have 1 game left after this, but where are they going to take it?

Games like this is why nintendo needs a demo service so we can get a taste before the game come out. We know it's possible, nintendo said it was successful in increasing sells so "Nintendo what is the problem"

I think I recall Gaijin saying the story would make a lot more sense in this one and we might get more of an idea of what ComanderVideo is doing. Without spoiling anything, is anything explained or expanded upon in this one?

LaWuigi, no Bit Trip level has ever been close to 20 minutes long. I've never timed them, but I think the levels are all (except for Runner's) 10-13 minutes, which isn't bad to restart, though it's perhaps pushing it. However, if you've enjoyed past Bit Trip games, then this should not be alarming. I enjoy replaying the levels, so it has never been a problem for me, and it's not like it's instant "death" as in Runner.

Have you made it past level 4 yet Corbie? If the levels are as long as Beat's (or any Bit.Trip before Runner) and there's more than 5 levels that would be awesome!

So, here's another question to speculate..... what was that original screenshot that they gave us supposed to be of..... it clearly has nothing to do with the gameplay...... OR DOES IT!??!?!?!!?!?!?!? SPECULATE!!!

Well, yeah, screenshot wasn't the right word, I just didn't know what to call it. But not that I look at it more, I see that now. It even has the rail that Commander Video travels along (at least I think that's what that is).

With the hit box that small its looking like this should be fairly manageable. Then again I've thought that about each new bit.trip game before they crushed my soul and laughed at me for attempting to beat them.